The hospitality group behind Corktown hotspot Takoi and its buzzy, tip-free followup, Magnet in Core City, has been through a lot, including a devastating fire and a controversial name change in the face of mounting public scrutiny.
But the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic proved to be more challenging than any single event and has now unraveled the business relationship at the heart of two of Detroit’s most talked about restaurants of recent years.
Chef Brad Greenhill, the culinary force of the group, and Philip Kafka, the investor and genre-bending Detroit real estate developer, are dissolving Top Young Hospitality and severing ties as business partners. Both say the split is amicable and was precipitated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Greenhill will retain sole ownership of Takoi and lease the space on Michigan Avenue from Kafka, and Kafka is taking, at the very least,
a pause from the restaurant industry altogether. As a result, Magnet, the Middle Eastern-inspired Takoi follow-up that debuted in September 2019 and landed on the Free Press’ Best New Restaurants list, will not be re-opening.
“It was tough to try and operate two spots at limited capacity, constantly having to pivot, all the sort of things restaurants are going through to try to survive and adapt to not only the regulations but guest expectations and economic expectations,” Greenhill, 42, said. “And if I’m being honest with myself, as much as I aspired to open multiple restaurants, it’s a lot easier to have one, especially under these circumstances.”
Kafka echoed Greenhill’s sentiment and pointed to the innate challenges of running multiple shops.
“One thing that’s happened during the pandemic is the truth has become expedited,” Kafka, 34, said. “It’s pushed everybody to get to the most realistic place they want to exist. If you’re fortunate, it’s given you a chance to pause and take a close look at everything. And the conclusion I came to is that Brad is an extremely talented chef, but neither Brad nor I are people that are going to run a hospitality company.”
And multi-unit hospitality companies will only face more challenges in the future, he said.
“I believe in independent businesses where the owner is in the building,” Kafka said. “I think we got a little carried away. With this move Brad is going to be in a position where he owns 100% of Takoi without any debt. And the way businesses are going to survive in the hospitality industry is the owner is in the business while minimizing how much debt they have. This is a forward-thinking plan to put Brad and Takoi in a position to succeed regardless of what happens in the next two years.”
Greenhill said the decision was made at the end of July, after a month-long trial of carryout service at Magnet failed to produce sustainable sales numbers. He points to the fact that the restaurant was shut down longer than it had been open and its off-the-beaten-path location as two factors that contributed to its summer struggles, though its pre-COVID operations were no cakewalk either.
“There were things we needed to work out at Magnet to get it more sustainable,” Greenhill said. “We did have an ambitious model. But we would’ve worked that out going into what was anticipated to be a busy summer coming off an up and down winter that I think everybody felt citywide. We never really had the opportunity to find our voice, especially as the type of restaurant we were aiming to be, which is highly seasonal and vegetable-focused. We never even got a summer – or spring, for that matter.”
The restaurant made a splashy debut in the heart of Kafka’s Core City development in the fall of 2019, bolstered by the smash success of the Takoi flagship as well as the new restaurant’s striking minimalist design, a tip-free menu inclusive of service and its unique kitchen equipment, limited only to a wood-burning oven and hearth. In its few months open, Magnet was solidly busy on weekends, but with so many new dining options in and around a pre-pandemic Detroit, excitement couldn’t quite match the fever pitch of its predecessor.
“I don’t think that Magnet ever lived up to its full potential, but the way things…